Throughout the course of the 50 State Quarters Program, the United States Mint has struck high-quality Proof versions of each coin for collectors. These Proof State Quarters (Buy on eBay) have been available within the annual Proof Sets, separately issued five-coin Proof Sets, and certain other numismatic products.
Modern Proof coinage is produced through a specialized minting process. Each coin is struck multiple times from specially prepared dies on specially polished blanks. The resulting coins have sharply defined features and a cameo appearance. The raised design elements and inscriptions on the coin appear frosted against deeply mirrored background fields. All Proof State Quarters have been struck at the San Francisco Mint and carry the “S” mint mark.
The U.S. Mint has produced Proof State Quarters in their standard “clad” composition of 91.67% copper and 8.33% nickel. These clad versions have been available in the standard annual Proof Set or five-coin State Quarter Proof Sets issued for each year of the series.
The Mint has also struck Silver Proof State Quarters with a special composition of 90% silver and 10% copper. These coins can be differentiated by the silver edge of the coin, the slightly greater weight of 6.25 grams, or by the official U.S. Mint packaging. The silver versions have been available within Silver Proof Sets produced for each year of the series or five coin State Quarter Silver Proof Sets, which were produced from 2004 to 2008.
As might be expected, the mintages for Proof State Quarters are considerably lower than the mintages for regular circulation strikes. Since each year’s Proof coins were sold together as sets, all issues from a certain year have the same mintage. The mintage levels for each year of release for State Quarters, both clad and Proof, are shown below.
Proof State Quarter Mintages
| Issue | Mintage |
|---|---|
| 1999 Proof State Quarters | 3,713,359 |
| 1999 Silver Proof State Quarters | 804,565 |
| 2000 Proof State Quarters | 4,020,172 |
| 2000 Silver Proof State Quarters | 965,241 |
| 2001 Proof State Quarters | 3,094,140 |
| 2001 Silver Proof State Quarters | 889,697 |
| 2002 Proof State Quarters | 3,084,245 |
| 2002 Silver Proof State Quarters | 892,229 |
| 2003 Proof State Quarters | 3,408,516 |
| 2003 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,125,755 |
Proof State Quarter Mintages Continued
| Issue | Mintage |
|---|---|
| 2004 Proof State Quarters | 2,740,684 |
| 2004 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,769,786 |
| 2005 Proof State Quarters | 3,262,960 |
| 2005 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,678,649 |
| 2006 Proof State Quarters | 2,882,428 |
| 2006 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,585,008 |
| 2007 Proof State Quarters | 2,374,778 |
| 2007 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,547,712 |
| 2008 Proof State Quarters | 2,078,112 |
| 2008 Silver Proof State Quarters | 1,192,908 |
| 2009 Proof DC & Territories Quarters | 2,113,390 |
| 2009 Silver Proof DC & Territories Quarters | 993,589 |
